SUPERANNUATION investment has replaced the largely-discredited managed investment scheme (MIS) model as the owner of a large-scale cattle enterprise on Tasmania's King Island.
The Melbourne-based Sustainable Agriculture Fund (SAF) headed by Frank Delahunty has emerged as the walk-in, walk-out buyer of Great Southern's King Island grazing properties.
Elders Melbourne negotiated the sale of the four properties - "Reekara Park", "Dinibili", "Boongarra" and "Longford" - following an expressions of interest campaign that closed last October.
SAF paid about $27 million for the aggregation, which comprises about 16,700 hectares, along with 6500 head of Angus cattle and all farm plant.
The properties were marketed on behalf of McGrath Nicol, the receivers and managers appointed in May last year to realise the assets of the beleaguered Great Southern Cattle Holdings.
Sale of the King Island aggregation followed the earlier sale of Great Southern's two North Queensland cattle properties, "Wrotham Park" and "Chudleigh Park".
SAF, a company established in 2007 to attract superannuation funds into agricultural investment, took delivery of the former Great Southern properties in February this year.
Meanwhile, winter crop sowing has commenced on "Marlow", Croppa Creek, the latest addition to SAF's battery of "Golden Triangle" broadacre farming properties.
SAF took delivery last month of the 2204ha "Marlow", which it purchased by negotiation for an undisclosed figure from the Coggan family, through Clayton Smith of Elders Goondiwindi (Qld).
The property, which the Coggans bought at auction for $5.5m in 2005, is located near "Calrossie", one of four Moree district properties bought late last year by SAF for close to $30m.
Created in 1905 in a subdivision of Tulloona Station, "Marlow" is fully developed for broadacre farming, with about 2000ha of black self-mulching soils under fence-free cultivation.
SAF managing director, Frank Delahunty, said the latest round of purchases took SAF's acquisition program to about 40 per cent of its available investment pool of about $145m.
As previously reported, SAF intends to build a spread of investment properties across a range of climatic regions and industry sectors, but 65pc weighted towards broadacre cropping.